1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a flow down type ice maker, more specifically to technology for preventing unfrozen ice making water falling from an ice making plate from splashing outside of a tank.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 4 shows the vicinity of an ice making unit 1 of a common conventional flow down type ice maker. The ice making unit 1 is provided with, a pair of ice making plates 3 having a plurality of angled portions 2 at fixed intervals, and these projecting angled portions 2 are formed vertically from the upper end to the lower end of the ice making plates 3 and arranged symmetrically such that there are angled portions 2 facing both to the front and the rear, and a cooling tube 4 constituting an evaporator of a coolant circuit supported by a side plate 5 between the ice making plates 3. An ice making water tank 6 is provided below the ice making plates 3. Further, a sprinkler (not illustrated) is provided above the ice making unit 1 so that the ice making water can be sprayed between the angled portions 2 on the front or rear surface of the ice making plates 3. The ice making operation is conducted by gradually freezing the ice making water on the ice making plate surfaces between the angled portions 2, and a circulating system is formed wherein the ice making plates 3 are cooled by the cooling tube 4, ice making water is sprayed on the cooled ice making plates 3 from the sprinkler, and the ice making water is received in the ice making water tank 6 and sprayed again from the sprinkler.
As mentioned above, the ice making water circulates in the ice making water tank 6, the sprinkler, and the ice making unit 1. However, the ice making water sprayed from the sprinkler to the ice making unit 1 so as to flow down on the front surface (or the rear surface) of the ice making plates 3 tends to flow towards the front side (or the rear side) and towards the sides as shown by the broken arrows in FIG. 5 due to the cross-sectional shape of the angled portions 2 having widths that become narrower toward the tip, as shown in FIG. 5.
Therefore, particularly at the outermost portions of the ice making unit 1, the ice making water splashes toward the front, the rear, and the sides from the lower end of the ice making unit 1 so as to fall outside of the ice making water tank 6. Consequently, ice cannot be made in a predetermined amount or with a predetermined size and the water that falls adhere to ice in the ice stocker and melts it, and the melted ice adheres to other ice and re-freezes into a large lump. Further, since the ice making water that is cooled while flowing down the ice making plates 3 cannot be reused for making ice, the cooling efficiency is degraded. As a countermeasure to this problem, a method wherein a larger ice making water tank with a larger mouth area is used so that ice making water is not splashed outside the ice making water tank can be considered. However, since this creates another problem in that the ice maker as a whole becomes larger, it dose not fundamentally solve the problem.